Sedimentation field-flow fractionation: a method for studying particulates in cataractous lens.

It is shown that the technique of sedimentation field-flow fractionation (sedimentation [sed] FFF) can be used to determine the particle content and particle size distribution of normal and cataractous lenses. A 31-year-old normal human lens, for example, showed a particle content of 1.5% by weight with diameters ranging from 0.12 micron to 0.9 micron. The urea insoluble material present in the nuclear and cortical fractions from a densely cataractous lens contained particles ranging from 0.12 micron to 1.7 micron, with average sizes of 0.83 micron and 0.82 micron respectively, for the two fractions. These numbers offer a basis for comparison; their actual values may be shifted slightly either up or down depending on the assessment of particle density. These sizes, which correspond to molecular weights of around 2 X 10(9) dalton, are larger than previously reported for lens particulates. The sed FFF method is thus seen to permit fractionation and size analysis of small amounts of lens material in times less than one hour.